WILMINGTON, Del. - Shareholders have sued the board of BP Plc for failing to monitor safety and exposing the company to potentially enormous liability related to the Deepwater spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to court documents.
A month ago a rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and sending heavy oil into fragile marshlands on the fringes of the Mississippi Delta.
Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama blamed the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill on “a breakdown of responsibility” at BP.
“The Deepwater disaster will cause financial consequences to BP and the BP subsidiaries, which will be tabulated in the billions of dollars, including liability for damage to property, commercial interests and wildlife,” said the complaint.
The complaint said the disaster has wiped about $40 billion from BP’s market value.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of shareholders by individual investor Robert Freedman and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, which runs Philadelphia’s regional public transit and owns BP’s American Depository Shares.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages as well as seeking to direct the board to take steps to improve corporate governance, such as limiting the number of inside directors and setting up an environmental exposure oversight committee.
A BP spokesman said the company does not comment on active litigation.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Shareholders+spill+liability/3066086/story.html#ixzz0ou7Nhiez
I think that the shareholders of BP have a right to sue them. I think that if you buy apart of somebody`s company they should meet a common expectation. The BP did not meet those expectations by failing to monitor safety. They also hired another company to do the ridges which is what had failed. The BP needs to pick their partners better and in my mind this whole incident is their fault and they need to be sued by their shareholders.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Austin. I think that the BP deserves to be sued for their inattentive approach to their work. When the shareholders rely on their partners on something, and the partners accept the responsibility, then it is their job to get the job well done. And if they know they are not able to take such responsibilities they shouldn’t accept such huge tasks, like monitoring the safety of the oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. And also when a task is given, and it isn’t just any simple thing, it is something that has a lot of money invested in it, the task should be done with care and caution. Due to their lack of responsibility, and reliability billions and billions of dollars were lost due to them and they are rightfully punished through being sued and being responsible for the many damages caused by the oil spill.
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